"Italy now is prioritizing who they are going to let die."
And you don't think it could come down to that here? It's called triage.
The number of confirmed cases here is increasing rapidly as we ramp up testing, which was to be expected. 80% of those infected will experience mild symptoms; the other 20% will require hospitalization, many for critical care. The reality is that we don't have the hospital beds available that we might need, and we don't have the respirators available that we might need. And when you reach the tipping point, tough decisions have to be made on who to treat and who to let go.
That's what Italy is facing now, and it has nothing to do with socialized medicine; it has everything to do with capacity. The US is tracking Italy very closely on infection growth, and we could very soon face the same capacity problems and similar choices unless we can slow that growth down.
Don't be smug about the quality of our healthcare; quality heathcare doesnt mean much when the system is overwhlemed and you can't deliver it. |
